The invention relates to a pickup unit for cameras comprising a camera tube having at one end a window portion and at the other end a bottom portion. The camera tube is surrounded by a coil former which is provided with coils, and the camera tube is centered relative to the coil former near the window portion and near the bottom portion.
Such a pickup unit is known from German Patent Application No. 26 07 728 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,986). In this unit, the camera tube is centered with respect to the coil former near the window portion and near the bottom portion by means of O-rings. However, such O-rings are flexible and are hence deformed irregularly, so that accurately centering the camera tube relative to the coil former is not possible. In this known unit, the position of the coil dormer with respect to the camera tube, viewed in the axial direction, is indefinite. The camera tube can easily move in the coil former. Furthermore, the tube has a base with leadthrough pins for the electric connections of the tube. As a result of this the overall length of the camera tube is comparatively large, which restricts the manufacture of compact portable cameras of small dimensions.